In the automotive industry, there is an ongoing need for improving vehicle performance in the event of collisions or other impacts while maintaining or improving competing requirements, such as vehicle weight and fuel efficiency. One particular aspect that has been addressed is crash impact to front, rear, and/or side body panels and pillars, and preventing deformation of automotive body panels and pillars into the passenger compartment. While standard heavier metal reinforcements provide effective structural reinforcement, they result in heavier vehicles with reduced fuel efficiency. Thus, there is a need for structural reinforcements in vehicles which allow vehicles to meet crash impact requirements and continuously increasing and stricter fuel efficiency requirements.
In an ongoing effort to reduce weight and provide enhanced structural reinforcement of vehicles during crash impact, it would be attractive to have the impact load distributed in a way to cause absorption and distribution of the impact load. It would be attractive to have the impact load distributed in a way to cause a progressive collapse of a structural reinforcement, body panel, and/or pillar in a controlled manner.